Seeing that Ren Youyang had already said this much, Ding Songyan concealed it no longer. He nodded gently and said:
"I did eat it."
For the moment, he did not say what he had eaten. He still did not know what his master had told the True Spirit Sect, or whether he had mentioned the Hundun Remains, and he feared undermining his elder.
Ren Youyang's dog ears twitched once. Surprisingly, he asked no further questions, merely flicking his right hand and saying:
"I may not want wine and women, but I still want food and drink. Come on, let's find a restaurant."
Ding Songyan rubbed his stomach, inexplicably recalling the scene of cutting open Yan Changqing's belly. His appetite promptly dwindled.
At the time, he had been intensely tense and mentally excited, so he had not felt sick. Now, merely recalling it was almost more than he could stomach.
But Brother Youyang wanted food and drink, so he would keep him company even if it killed him!
They found a nearby restaurant in the eastern part of the city and ordered four hot dishes-spicy pig and sheep trotters, stewed pork offal, steamed goose and duck, and three-crisp soup-along with three cold dishes of chicken skin with sesame curd, dressed lettuce, and braised beef, two sweets of carved candied fruit and red bean dumplings, and two jars of lychee liquor.
Once all the dishes had arrived, Ding Songyan raised a bowl of lychee liquor and said to Ren Youyang:
"Finding even one kindred spirit in life is a blessing, yet I got to meet both you, Brother Youyang, and Miss Xiaoqing at once. That deserves three bowls of wine."
"Only three bowls?" Ren Youyang chuckled.
"Isn't that because I'm worried you can't hold your liquor, Brother Youyang?" Ding Songyan refused to